Parkes 1

Kat Parkes
English 2
October 27, 2019
Cassel

The topic that I chose to research is on the effect that music has on our brains. Does

music actually control us? Music has always been said to have the capability to change our

moods, but what about beyond that? I wanted to research the more in-depth and scientific studies

that have been done to see how else music can affect us. How much power does music truly hold

on the human brain?

The first source I reviewed was an article on the website Medium. It follows the CRAAP

guidelines, and is credible. The article comes with a work cited of all the information that the

author had collected elsewhere. The author also included a YouTube video that explains her

article more in-depth. Key takeaways that she wrote about are, music can affect memory, mood,

and it has a positive impact on learning (Medium).

The second source I am including is an article from the University of Central Florida.

This is definitely a credible and reasonable source to use in my research essay. This source

includes a graph of all the parts in the brain, and what music does to each one. This includes

parts like the cerebellum, frontal lobe, temporal lobe, hippocampus, hypothalamus, amygdala,

and more. Different facts in this piece that are important are, music can reduce seizures, make

you stronger, imp;rove immune system, and assist in repairing brain damage (UCF).

The next two pieces of information that I collected are both under the same link. One of

them is an introduction and an interview, and the other one is an excerpt from a book on the

topic. I think both are credible and pass the CRAAP test, they are legit and the website is NPR.
 Parkes 2
Kat Parkes
English 2
October 27, 2019
Cassel

As for the book, it is written by Elena Mannes and is titled ​The Power of Music. I​ n the excerpt,

Mannes writes about how music affects children in the womb, and that “...​the latest scientific

evidence reveals that the ear, which we now know is active in the womb, has an advantage over

the eye.” (Mannes). Music is one of the only things we can learn about before birth, making it

both a powerful and critical revelation. In the interview and intro to the excerpt, Mannes says

“the cries of babies just a few weeks old were found to contain some of the basic intervals

common to Western music.” (Mannes, NPR). It also mentions how music stimulates more parts

of the brain than any other human function” (NPR). All of these facts are critical to how

important music’s effect is on the human brain.

Lastly, I chose to include a YouTube video from the channel Practical Psychology to

review for my essay. This video basically includes a lot of information that the first source did,

yet it also includes many pieces of statistics about music. This is important because it gives you

an idea of how many people listen to music daily, or how many people play an instrument in the

United States. I like that I found a source that included simple pieces of data because it is a good

way to introduce different parts and ideas in the main research essay.

As for all of the sources as a whole, there are not many disagreements among their

information. All of the articles included the effects music has on brains. This also goes along

with the misconceptions, I find little that involve this topic because it is universally known that

humans are affected by music.

 Parkes 3
Kat Parkes
English 2
October 27, 2019
Cassel

Works Cited

Mannes, Elena. ​The Power Of Music.​ ​NPR​,

www.npr.org/2011/06/01/136859090/the-power-of-music-to-affect-the-brain.

Muzzarelli, Sophia. "The Relationship between Music and the Mind." ​Medium​, 3 Dec. 2017,

medium.com/@SMuzz/music-and-the-mind-aa0820c8c8fe. Accessed 20 Oct. 2019.

Pegasus. "Your Brain on Music." ​University of Central Florida​,

www.ucf.edu/pegasus/your-brain-on-music/. Accessed 20 Oct. 2019.

"'The Power Of Music' To Affect The Brain." Interview by Neal Conin. ​NPR,​ 1 June 2011,

www.npr.org/2011/06/01/136859090/the-power-of-music-to-affect-the-brain. Accessed

20 Oct. 2019.

YouTube,​ YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYtioDengIc.